Book Was There

Reading in Electronic Times

Andrew Piper

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Paperback

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English

Chicago University Press
28 August 2013

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Literary studies: general; Social & cultural history; Media studies; Publishing industry

Andrew Piper grew up liking books and loving computers. While occasionally burying his nose in books, he was going to computer camp, programming his Radio Shack TRS-80, and playing Pong. His eventual love of reading made him a historian of the book and a connoisseur of print, but as a card-carrying member of the first digital generation—and the father of two digital natives—he understands that we live in electronic times. Book Was There is Piper’s surprising and always entertaining essay on reading in an e-reader world. Much ink has been spilled lamenting or championing the decline of printed books, but Piper shows that the rich history of reading itself offers unexpected clues to what lies in store for books, print or digital. From medieval manuscript books to today’s playable media and interactive urban fictions, Piper explores the manifold ways that physical media have shaped how we read, while also observing his own children as they face the struggles and triumphs of learning to read. In doing so, he uncovers the intimate connections we develop with our reading materials—how we hold them, look at them, share them, play with them, and even where we read them—and shows how reading is interwoven with our experiences in life. Piper reveals that reading’s many identities, past and present, on page and on screen, are the key to helping us understand the kind of reading we care about and how new technologies will—and will not—change old habits. Contending that our experience of reading belies naive generalizations about the future of books, Book Was There is an elegantly argued and thoroughly up-to-date tribute to the endurance of books in our ever-evolving digital world.

By: Andrew Piper
Imprint: Chicago University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 22mm, Width: 14mm, Spine: 1mm
Weight: 284g
ISBN: 9780226103488
ISBN 10: 022610348X
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 28 August 2013
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Andrew Piper teaches German and European literature at McGill University.

Reviews for Book Was There: Reading in Electronic Times

Compelling.... Andrew Piper shows the apparent internet revolution as being a continuum of book culture. (Financial Times) This series of enlightening meditations on the experience and history of reading reveals what we are poised to gain and to lose with the advent of e-readers and related digital media.... Andrew Piper does a fine job of uncovering the metaphors on which the rationality and logic of reading rest.... A fascinating glance at the page as it was, as it is, and as it might yet be. (Publishers Weekly)